This invention is directed to a toy which propels itself through a body of water via an oscillatory motion of a member which is pivotally mounted to the body of the toy at its center. The member includes a ridge so shaped and placed on the member that it freely slips through the water in a forward direction but encounters fluid resistance in a rearward direction enabling it to push against the water to propel the body. The toy includes a pivotally mounted head which moves between two positions. A float within the head insures that the head assumes one of these positions when the toy is within a body of water.
A plurality of toys are known which are capable of propelling themselves through water via one of several common mechanisms. The first of these mechanisms is based upon movement of one or two flippers, feet or the like in a fluttering manner. Commonly this movement is achieved by a crank shaft or pin interacting with a connecting rod or slotted lever.
An example of the mechanism described above appears in U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,286 which is directed to an amphibian toy. A pair of webbed feet are propelled by the rotation of a crank shaft within a slotted lever. A second toy described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,165 utilizes a similar principle to cause the rear legs of the toy to achieve a flutter kick. In this toy the rear legs' motion is achieved via interaction of pivotal connecting rods which are joined to a crank shaft.
A second type of motion alluded to in the preceding is also presented in U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,165. This motion is exemplified by the movement of the arm portion of the figures. The arms in this patent rotate in a conical manner. Thus the ends of the arms, i.e. the hands, move in essentially a circle. Other patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,613 also describe toys wherein the arms are capable of moving in a circular manner by rotating at the shoulder about fixed bearings. In the U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,165 the conical movement of the arms is achieved by incorporation of a universal joint in each shoulder.
A third type of motion is achieved in U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,401 which utilizes oscillating legs having pivotal vanes attached to their ends. During the forward stroke the vanes pivot backward to decrease the water resistance. During the backward stroke, the propulsion stroke, the vanes become perpendicular to the plane of motion because they can pivot to the perpendicular position and be held there by a small locking pin or the like.
The flutter type kick described above is useful in toys which characterized animals or humans which are capable of propelling themselves via flippers, feet or the like. The circulating arm type of toy is essentially only useful in toys which mimic human forms because of the lack of appropriate appendages corresponding to the human arms in toys which are shaped like animals. Toys which utilize pivotal vanes or paddles, while they are capable of swimming, somewhat detract from an accurate representation of an actual animal since animals have hinged paddles on their feet.
Certain aqueous animals such as penguins and hump back whales have quite prominent upper torso flippers which they utilize while swimming. No toys are known which mimic the action of these flippers.
Many animals which are amphibious such as frogs, penguins and sea lions tend to stretch their head out in front of themselves while they are swimming to present a stream lined shape to the water, but dip or nod their head downwardly when they are on the land. No toys are known which both swim and walk and are capable of mimicking this head movement to change their head position between one for swimming and one for walking.